Chased out of the Red Hen? Just the opening salvo

May have been in the New Yorker, a cartoon depicting a highway with the road sign reading “Schadenfreude Next 20 Miles.”

This has been a very good week for the Great Rightwing Conspiracy and assorted Deplorables. The U.S. Supreme Court delivered three grand slam decisions topped off with swing-vote Justice Anthony Kennedy handing Republicans a chance to assure a conservative majority for years to come. 

Everything but screwed, blued, and tattooed!

Politico 6-28-18 neatly captured the acute angst of our liberal-progressive-socialist acquaintances. The Democratic National Committee was holding a conference call when the news broke:

News of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement was met with groans — and a cry of “Oh, My God” — as Democratic National Committee members first learned of the development during a meeting Wednesday.

“It is a dark moment in the history of the court and the nation, and it’s about to get a lot darker.” — NY Times editorializes today.

Charles Blow at the NY Times was reduced to sputtering: “Donald Trump, a lying, bullying, womanizing autocrat-idolizer, is fundamentally transforming America in very real and lasting ways, in ways that have left decent people slack-jawed, enraged and exasperated.”

‘We’re about to find out how bad it will get’

With Justice Kennedy voting “right” the high court this week:

• Stopped labor unions from collecting “agency fees” in Janus v. AFSCME;
• Upheld President Trump’s travel ban;
• Prohibited government from requiring pro-life pregnancy centers to disseminate pro-abortion information.

“Jurisprudential carnage,” The Progressive shrieked. If our … acquaintances had a bad week this week, they can only imagine what lies in store when Trump and McConnell replace Kennedy with a more reliable conservative.

“We’re about to find out how bad it will get without Justice Kennedy.” Emily Bazelon cries in the NY Times.

If you on a man of woman of the Left, you clench your fist, you raise your voice, you make little sense. The Left is denying Sarah Huckabee Sanders a seat at the lunch counter. You nominate a Nicholas Maduro-style socialist. The daily special on the menu today (06-28-18) is more militance, with a side dish of anger.

‘No choice but to take drastic measures’

• • “Will [Janus] inspire the kind of militant unionism that could still resurrect the labor movement? — The Nation prompted. “Workers must get radical to fight back against Janus.”

<li>CNN, MSNBC Analysts Encourage Extreme Tactics to Stop Supreme Court Pick: ‘Raise Hell,’ ‘Time for Democrats to Throw Down’ (More here.)

• If the courts keep turning their backs on us, we will have no choice but to take drastic measures,” warns Bryce Covert in the NY Times.

 

Like, what? Given that the public sector government employment is, for all intents and purposes, now “right-to-work,” will we see more Act 10 intifadas? This time in Illinois?

Issue death threats. Take legislators on the lam (this time to Beloit?). Shut down the bank. Occupy the state capitol. Unleash Segway Boy, Thistle, Hippie Bongstocking, Crying Man and Bullhorn Guy.

Blaska’s Bottom Line: Go for it, acquaintances!

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Illinois legislators coming soon to Beloit?

Is Illinois governor Bruce Rauner the new Scott Walker? Today’s Chicago Tribune:

We’re intrigued — and hopeful — about the implications of Janus v. AFSCME Council 31. If government workers don’t have to contribute, maybe this begins a reckoning for the political class of Illinois. We’re not great fans of that symbiosis between one party and the public’s workforce. Unions have a vested interest in the taxing-and-spending status quo in Illinois, which in fiscal terms is a disaster. Democrats have been too happy to go along for the ride, saddling taxpayers with enormous public debts. The results for this state and its economy are political gridlock and disappointment: Illinois has weak job growth, a bleak credit rating and a $130 billion hole in the state’s pension funds. Those are largely byproducts of the hand-holding between unions and Dems. 

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